Chapter 123
“Narada said, ‘Sent back to heaven by those righteous kings,distinguished by the liberality of their sacrificial presents, Yayatipossessed of daughter’s sons, dismissed them and reached the celestialregions. Attaining to the eternal region obtained through the merit ofhis daughter’s sons, and adorned by his own deeds, Yayati, bathed inshower of fragrant flowers and hugged by perfumed and delicious breezes,blazed forth with great beauty. And cheerfully, received back into heavenwith sounds of cymbals, he was entertained with songs and dances byvarious tribes of Gandharvas and Asuras. And diverse celestial and royalRishis and Charanas began to pay their adorations to him. And deitiesworshipped him with an excellent Arghya and delighted him with otherhonours. And after he had thus regained heaven and tranquillity of heart,and had once more become freed from anxiety, the Grandsire, gratifyinghim by his words said, ‘Thou hadst earned the full measure I of virtue bythy earthly deeds, and this region (that thou hadst won) is eternal, asthy deeds are in heaven. Thou hadst, however, O royal sage, destroyed thyacquisition by thy vanity alone, and thereby covered the hearts of allthe denizens of heaven with darkness in consequence of which none of themcould recognise thee. And since thou couldst not be recognised, thou werthurled hence! Saved once more by the love and affection of thy daughter’ssons, thou hast once more arrived here, and regained this unchangeable,eternal, sacred, excellent, stable, and indestructible region won beforeby thy own deeds.’ Thus addressed, Yayati said, ‘O holy one, I have adoubt, which, it behoveth thee, to dispel. O Grandsire of all the worlds,it behoveth me not to ask any one else. Great was my merit, augmented bya (virtuous) rule over my subjects for many thousands of years and won byinnumerable sacrifices and gifts. How could merit (so great) be exhaustedso soon in consequence of which I was hurled hence? Thou knowest, O holyone, that the regions created for me were all eternal. Why were all thoseregions of mine destroyed, O thou of great effulgence? The Grandsireanswered, saying, ‘Thy merit, augmented by a (virtuous) rule over thysubjects for many thousands of years and won by innumerable sacrificesand gifts, was exhausted by only one fault, in consequence of which thouwert hurled (from this region). That fault, O king of kings, was thyvanity for which thou hadst become an object of contempt with all theresidents of heaven. O royal sage, this region can never be renderedeternal by vanity, or pride of strength, or malice, or deceitfulness, ordeception. Never disregard those that are inferior, or superior, or inthe middle station. There is not a greater sinner than he who is consumedby the fire of vanity. Those men that will converse upon this fall andre-ascension of thine, will, without doubt, be protected even ifovertaken by calamity.’
“Narada continued, ‘O monarch, even such was the distress into whichYayati fell in consequence of vanity, and such was the distress intowhich Galava fell owing to his obstinacy. They that desire their own goodshould listen to friends that wish them well. Obstinacy should never beentertained, for obstinacy is always the root of ruin. For this reason, Oson of Gandhari, forsake vanity and wrath, O hero, make peace with thesons of Pandu. Avoid anger, O king, that which is given away, that whichis done, the austerities that are practised, the libations that arepoured on fire, nor one of these is ever destroyed or suffereth anydiminution. None else, again, enjoyeth the fruits of these save he thatis their agent. He that succeedeth in understanding this truly superiorand excellent history, that is approved by persons of great learning aswell as by those that are freed from anger and lust, and that is enforcedby various references to scriptures and reason, obtaineth a knowledge ofvirtue and profit and desire, and enjoyeth the sovereignty of the wholeworld!'”
